The Division of Undergraduate Education has awarded MIT a phase-II CCLI award for $514,707 for implementing rotating fluid dynamics experiments in the context of meteorology, oceanography and climate. Associate Professor Amit Tandon of the Department of Physics has been awarded a subcontract for $28,475 by MIT along with four other universities to implement a series of atmospheric/ocean dynamics experiments into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum at UMass Dartmouth. UMassD joins MIT, Penn State, Johns Hopkins University, U. of Wisconsin-Madison and Millersville University by taking part in this implementation. A detailed evaluation plan is planned by the participants to quantify implementation, pedagogy, dissemination, and sustainability.

"It would be very interesting to explore how the fundamental principles of rotating fluid dynamics, that play a central role in determining the climate of the planet, are best conveyed to students", says Dr. Tandon. This project will create new ways to teach students how to move between phenomena in the real world, laboratory abstractions, theory and models are interconnected. Dr. Tandon will also be attending yearly workshops (at MIT or University of Chicago) to discuss the implementation and its results into undergraduate and graduate curriculum.